I replied:
> > I don't think the Lunars are capable of fielding enough professional
> > soldiers to have numerical 1:1 against the orlanthi. A third of an
> > Orlanthi clan will fight in the fyrd, even more, when they are defending
> > their tula.
>
> I don't agree. The Empire has over 8 million people in it. They can
> easily field an army larger than the entire population of Sartar and
> supply it anywhere there are rivers to sail on.
What on Earth (or Glorantha) are you basing this on?? The logistical problems of large armies were a lot worse back then, and they aren't easy now. 2000 men is already starting to be a large army. The only people in history that I know have fielded armies of hundreads of thousands vere the warring states period Chinise (Sun Tsu's time), and feeding huge armies was way easier in fertile China than it is in Dragon Pass, and the population intensities were quite different.
The empire is huge, but it can only field a small fraction of it's armed might on any border, just because there is no way of getting the men there from all over the empire and keeping them supplied.
> > The logistical problems involved will keep the empire from sending huge
> > armies all the way to Sartar.
>
> Again I don't agree. The Oslira river allows large sailing vessels to
> sail all the way to Furthest and shallow draught barges can sail from
> there to Slave Wall. It is a 2-3 day ride from there into Alda Chur so
> the supply line is not too long. From talking to Martin Laurie, who is
> writing a book on the Imperial Army, the Empire has nearly 20,000 troops
> in the Pass in 1625.
I find that 20,000 highly suspect. That's 10% of Sartars population, being fed on local labour?
> > But when we have a sensible match of about equal strength, I'd say the
> > chanses are about 50/50. If the lunar morale holds (outside the Glowline),
> > they may be able to stand the orlanthi charge, and carry the day. If the
> > charge manages to break the Lunar line, then the orlanthi will carry the
> > day, for they are in their element in a free for all melee, where the
> > Lunar soldiers are out of their element.
> > In Sartar the Lunars have to keep their formations against sudden
> > stormwind and hale, flying and lightning chucking orlanthi weaponthanes
> > and even warchariots. I wouldn't bet on them if it wouldn't be for the
> > college of magic.
>
> I would though. An Imperial regiment is made up of 500-1000
> weaponthane quality troops.
Nonesense! The average lunar soldier is nowhere near a match for an orlanthi weaponthane. The lunar centurion (cepturion?) would be about equalent.
<snip>
> Now if the situation involves the Imperials not being able to form then
> that will be different; but in an open field,
> formed and ready for battle the Orlanthi don't stand a chance - not
> even at 3:2 odds.
I suggest you pick up a copy of the Dragon Pass boardgame, and quess again.
-Adept
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